The play were he tried to yank the ball back from Dwill was ridiculous, if we are ever gonna be truly great he needs to stop with the "Me First" attitude... this is a team sport.

You're obviously not very familiar with the read option. The entire point is to stick it in the RB's gut, read the defensive end, and then either pull the ball back or continue with the handoff. Tuck (or Osi, not sure which) played it perfectly so Cam couldn't get a read on him until it was too late. Deangelo made a good cut to get around the DE, but Cam actually should have kept it. That's what he was trying to do.

You're obviously not very familiar with the read option. The entire point is to stick it in the RB's gut, read the defensive end, and then either pull the ball back or continue with the handoff. Tuck (or Osi, not sure which) played it perfectly so Cam couldn't get a read on him until it was too late. Deangelo made a good cut to get around the DE, but Cam actually should have kept it. That's what he was trying to do.

I'm very familiar with it, maybe you are bind but last I checked his actions would have been to little to late, all he did was increase the chances of both of them losing the ball, we need to bring back the damn I formation any good defense will have no problem stopping the read option it is a college level scheme that will not work in the NFL long term.

I'm very familiar with it, maybe you are bind but last I checked his actions would have been to little to late, all he did was increase the chances of both of them losing the ball, we need to bring back the damn I formation any good defense will have no problem stopping the read option it is a college level scheme that will not work in the NFL long term.

Don't credit that to a "me me me" attitude though. The man was trying to make a play. I will agree that it was too late and was probably a bad decision. The DE just held containment perfectly on both of them until the last second. I think it can work, but just not as the primary running formation. Mixed in, with a QB like Cam, it can be deadly.

Don't credit that to a "me me me" attitude though. The man was trying to make a play. I will agree that it was too late and was probably a bad decision. The DE just held containment perfectly on both of them until the last second. I think it can work, but just not as the primary running formation. Mixed in, with a QB like Cam, it can be deadly.

Mixed in yes it can work, as our primary running play being used 10-15 times per game it will fail, especially when you are playing a defensive line like the Giants.

Also it sure didn't help starting Gary Williams at RT he was over matched all day long... mental lapses or not we should have had Campbell playing RT last night he could have at least matched up athletically with them, am I the only one who noticed Williams arms are far to short to play tackle.

I love me some Smitty, but all he's managed to do here by not keeping it between himself and Cam is elevate his OWN status and reputation and give the national press all the fuel it needs to continue to trash his quarterback's.

So if that was his goal, mission accomplished.

If his goal was something other than that, then he did it wrong, period, end-of-story.

This whole situation is so jacked up... I didn't see this anywhere else and just now found it in the ESPN article. I searched to see if it was already in this thread and didn't see it, so here it is:http://espn.go.com/n...back-cam-newton

Gross, a longtime teammate of Smith's at Utah and with the Panthers, said he doesn't have a problem with Newton's demeanor. And he didn't think anything needed to be said about Newton outside of the locker room.

"Cam wears his heart on his sleeve and you know how he's feeling based on his actions," Gross said. "He wants to win as much as anybody, and when we don't, he takes it to heart. I would like any of my teammates, if they're upset about things, to talk it out with us in the locker room, and know that we're all in it together."

Smith knows he might take some criticism for calling out Newton, but doesn't care. Smith said he hopes the lesson will pay off for Newton down the road when he's retired and the quarterback is setting NFL records.

"If this is something wrong for saying that, well, I'd rather be wrong and one day during his long career he goes, 'Ah, I hated to hear that, but maybe that's what Smitty was talking about,' " Smith said.

I don't blame Smitty, but Smitty is a different kind of guy. But, I also understand where Gross is coming from. Either way, our locker room is fractured right now.